From Ireland, we started in Prague, Czech Republic then made our way south through Austria, Slovenia, Croatia. Then we went to Italy for a night and finished in Athens. We then flew back to Dublin and spend the rest of the summer around Ireland. We did all of this for less than $4,000, read on to learn how.

My wife and I decided to take a last minute trip to Israel since we just got an infusion of over 200k Delta points by combining offers from two American Express cards with a Membership Rewards transfer bonus. Read on to hear about our travels to Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, the Dead Sea, the north and more along with our luxury hotel, budget hostel and car rental experiences.

This was very interesting. We made a last minute reservation (+972-2-6271333) on our way into Jerusalem for that night. Note that it is often difficult to get a reservation. Try to book way in advanced. If there is no availability, continue to try up until that day. If you are very motivated, also try to …

The Renaissance was a pretty nice place. Definitely worth 25,000 Marriott points, though not sure if it was worth the $275 they were asking others. It was right on Tel Aviv Beach which was great. It couldn’t really have a better location. Parking fees were as expected and internet was high at $20 given that …

I loved my trip to Israel, but had a horrible experience with Avis’s local contractor in Jerusalem. When you book from the US it appears to be at a very reasonable price, say $20 a day for a compact. When you get there it ends up being around $60 a day with insurance. There is …

My experience traveling through Ben Gurion Airport in July of 2011: Entering The Passport control line was a bit slow. Probably 20-30 minutes. Certain passengers get questioned for a long time and others are very quick, so it seems to be all about getting lucky to be behind travelers that don’t generate a security interest. …

This was one of the highlights of our trip. They have hikes where you swim part of it. We first hiked over an hour in the wrong direction (it was our stupidity, the rangers were pretty clear and the maps were good), so we didn’t start our real hike till quite later than we wanted. …

The Safed Inn (aka Tzfat Inn aka Ruckenstein B&B) was a wonderful Hostel / B&B. I would highly recommend it if you are in the area. The couple (Dubi & Riki Ruckenstein) that owns the place are very nice. Riki moved from America years ago, but retains her perfect English (not always the case in …

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